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Mercenary-turned-oil tycoon Tony Buckingham tonight admitted, after speculation in earlier editions of today's Evening Standard, that his £1.4 billion Heritage Oil business was in merger talks.
Heritage said the deal would be structured as a reverse takeover, suggesting that it was being bought by a smaller stock market-quoted player rather than one of the giants such as BP, Shell, or even Tullow Oil, with which Heritage shares some assets in Uganda.
Some analysts said that a large private company could be looking to reverse into Heritage in order to get a London Stock Exchange quotation and the vast access to new capital that could entail.
Heritage is seen as one of the most promising of the smaller oil explorers. It has potentially huge finds in Uganda and the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Shares in Heritage were suspended while the company pursued the possible transaction.
Analysts said a deal remained uncertain, mainly because of the mystery surrounding the reverse takeover structure.
Also, with Buckingham owning 33% of the business, any deal would have to be on his say — another potential block.
Heritage's statement said: “There can be no assurances that any agreement will be reached.”
